After spending more than a week on the practice field, it's time for Arkansas Tech's football team to show what it can do in a game situation.

The Wonder Boys will get that opportunity this afternoon when they take part in their first preseason scrimmage at Buerkle Field. Tech's players will take the field at about 2 p.m. and begin stretching, then will go through some punting work before getting the scrimmage actually started.

The workout will consisted of nine play segments, with each segment lasting 10 plays. Tech's three offensive and defensive units will alternate through the scrimmage throughout the nine segments, and the only live kicking will be extra-point and field goal attempts.

"I think the time has come when the players want to be out on the game field," Tech coach Steve Mullins said after Friday's practice session. "Up to this point, we've been guiding them through what they should be doing. Now they won't have the coaches on the field helping them out, and it's time to push those players out of the nest a little bit.

"The scrimmage will be a little change for the players because up to this point, we've only had three times where we had some live tackling. This time, it will be a little continuous out there."

Mullins expressed his satisfaction concerning his team through the first segment of workouts as the Wonder Boys continue to prepare for their Aug. 26 season opener against Northeastern (Okla.) State. So far, Tech has been able to avoid major injury to any of its players.

"I've been very pleased with the progress we've made," he said. "The only negative thing we've experienced so far are those little minor injuries that keep players out of two or three practices. Because of that, we don't have that cohesion, but hopefully we can start coming together."

One of those minor injuries include quarterback Jason Campbell, who is projected to be the starter in Tech's season opener. Campbell is suffering from a sore arm, and it will be determined just before the scrimmage if he will play.

"We had Jason's arm checked out, and there's nothing seriously wrong," Mullins said. "It appears to be just a strain, but he's been throwing a lot more than the other quarterbacks at this time. But if he's not full speed at the time of the scrimmage, then he won't play."

The scrimmage could also help Mullins and his coaching staff to determine which of the freshman players should be able to help immediately and which ones should be redshirted. The next three or four days could help determine that, according to Mullins, but some of the newcomers are making the decisions difficult.

Among the freshmen Mullins praised include running back R.J. Van Hook of Prescott, quarterback Justin Ray of Benton, tight end Seth Jones and the local contingent - wide receivers Kevin Elliott and Tracey Stiger of Russellville and Robert Woods of Dardanelle and free safety Matt Williams of Russellville. Defensively, linebackers Lamarcus Tucker of Batesville and Steven Moore of Conway have made the coaches take notice.

"This is the time to determine how those freshmen are going to fit into the picture for us this fall," he said. "As a coach, of course, I would love to be able to just redshirt all of our incoming freshmen, but that's not the case. Some of them are battling for playing time, and many more than I expected."